Friday 20 November 2015

words words words




i love words
i keep a bowlful in the studio at home
to dip into
and to play with
when far from home i choose words with my eyes shut from whatever publication is to hand
and i learned (from poet Naomi Shihab Nye in a "new works" session at Haystack) that one of many delightful ways to begin a piece of writing is to harvest a collection of phrases from books randomly selected from an available shelf and then begin to dance with the words

in recent years i have begun classes by asking participants to write down their favourite word of the moment (never fear, it won't be set in concrete and i don't ask people to read it aloud or write it on their foreheads in lipstick...and it's likely to be something quite different in five minutes)

then the words are put into a vessel
(boat, bowl, bag)
along with a few others

and then we each take a lucky dip and begin to write 


the word that repeats itself time after time for me is

loved

what's your favourite word today?


25 comments:

  1. 'luscious' is always one of my favourite words. Also 'meniscus'.

    Love just rolling around in words :)

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  2. confusion- which is not necessarily bad, simply big!

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  3. mindful.. I am trying to be more mindful and in the moment... harder than one would think... I too love words and your workshop idea sounds wonderful.

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